Sokoto Head of a Bearded Male, Based

Roughly two thousand years old, and his expression has not softened.

This head of a bearded male is Sokoto, from northern Nigeria in West Africa, in terra cotta, and is given an age of about 2000 years. Scholars are still working out why Sokoto terra cottas were made, though many believe such heads were linked to burials or to honoring ancestors, as with other early Nigerian sculpture. The clay here is coarse and speckled with bright grit. Pierced eyes sit under heavy lids, nostrils are drilled, and the mouth is a tight line above a rounded beard. Small knobs cross the crown. He stands on a metal base. Ten inches high.

Few people look this composed at two thousand.